Warm Hands, Cold Feet
by katyedavis
Summary: Ron is waiting patiently for his best friend to arrive on time for his wedding date but he's running behind! Ron is out to search for him but knows exactly where to look.


**A/N: This is for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. I am Chaser #1 of the Wimbourne Wasps and I am to write about friendship with a Gryffindor x Gryffindor prompt and I chose Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. You guys should check out the competition, it's fierce! **

**Prompts:**

**#2: (word) force**

**#6: (emotion) shock**

**#10: (phrase) piece of cake**

_Cold Feet, Warm Hands_

Ron had been waiting on Harry to arrive for hours now. It wasn't like him to be late, and it definitely wasn't like him to be late to the most important day of Harry's life. Ron kept glancing at the clock on the wall, but the more he stared at it, the slower it would go.

_Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock._

The sound annoyed Ron more the longer he waited. Everyone was beginning to settle down in the guest chairs that were covered in red velvet and lined with gold rope. The chattering had ceased once the music started to play and Ron began to panic even more. He knew that he had four songs to find his best friend or the wedding of Harry Potter and Ginerva Weasley would never happen.

"Where in the world is Harry?" Hermione questioned, donned in a gold dress that hit just below her knees.

Hermione even started to look a little frazzled herself, and the anticipation only grew when Ron shrugged his shoulders while looking around for the man with the faded scar on his forehead.

"I wish I knew…" Ron said, pondering all the places he might be.

"You mean, you don't? You always know where he is!" Hermione tried to shout, but failed, so it came out a whisper instead.

The cool, salty breeze of the ocean thumbed through his hair like warm hands turning a page in their favorite book. It moved quickly, but was sticking to every page.

"I think I might have an idea. I have fifteen minutes," Ron confessed, breaking out into a sprint before disapparating completely to the place that he imagined Harry would be "hiding."

_Hogsmeade._

Harry always had a way of choosing the least suspecting places imaginable to hide from family or anyone in general. The moment that Ron arrived in Hogsmeade he knew immediately where Harry was. Ron opened the door to the Hog's Head Pub, and there sat his best friend. He was dressed in his tux, but next to him sat four empty pints and a red rose that had been separated from its dozen.

"Mate, how you holding up?" Ron questioned, walking towards Harry cautiously.

"N-Not so g-good," Harry stuttered, staring into the bottom of his empty pint glass.

"You do know that your wedding is today, don't you?" Ron asked calmly.

"Y-yes I s-s-sure do," Harry said, holding his empty pint glass up in the air.

The bartender looked wary of giving him another, so Ron just told him that tea would be a better choice. All Ron could think about was how to get Harry to his wedding without Ginny knowing that he was hammered.

"Mate, you were supposed to be there over an hour ago," Ron said, making sure to keep up with the time.

_Eight minutes._

Harry's eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of his head and look of pure shock surfaced on his pale, yet clammy, face.

"Is it t-that l-late already?" Harry questioned, fear replacing the shock.

"Yes it is! We have to get you there as soon as possible," Ron said, urging for Harry to follow after him.

Harry just sat there and stared at the red rose that was supposed to be sitting in his jacket lapel but didn't move to get up. In fact, he didn't move at all.

"She deserves better than me, Ron," Harry said, the slurring coming down to a minimal level as he sipped on the hot tea in front of him.

"What are you talking about?" Ron questioned, glancing nervously at the clock.

_Six minutes._

"You h-heard me. She deserves a partner that hasn't always put her life in danger," Harry said, tossing the tea back and trying to forget about the burning sensation in his throat and on his tongue.

Ron came back to sit down next to his best friend of many years. It was clear that Harry had a case of cold feet, but it wasn't because he was scared to commit. He was scared of what would happen if something as big as Voldemort were to happen again. Ron understood that. They had shared it together and now Ron was going to try his best to keep him from slipping back into the past.

"She loves you, Harry. She has always loved you. Even though she's my sister and I would kill the man who hurts her, I could not have asked for a better match for her than my best friend," Ron encouraged, sticking the red rose back in Harry's lapel.

Harry wasn't quite as inebriated as he had once been and for that he was grateful. He had always been grateful for Ron. Ron knew everything about Harry from his home life, to what pair of socks were his least favorite. He knew where Harry had been hiding without any indication of where he might be. Ron was one of those friends that Harry could always count on, no matter the hardship.

_Four minutes._

"Let's do this," Harry said, getting ready to attempt to stand up.

"You mean, I'm not going to have to force you out of this pub and into the arms of my sister? Well, that was a piece of cake," Ron commented.

Harry didn't say anything for a couple seconds while he attempted to get off the bar stool, but found that he was using the bar stool as a crutch to keep him from hitting the floor even though the fall had already happened. Ron helped his friend off the floor and dusted all the excess dirt off his fresh tux before laughing quietly to himself.

"We need to get you cleaned up first," Ron advised, looking back at the clock for reassurance that he was, indeed, going to be late.

_Two minutes.__  
__One minute.  
Show time._


End file.
